MJH Top 40
by hightowersmith on Jul 13, 2009 12:02 PM CDT
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40) Jake Brigham (19 year old RHP: Class-A)
– Quick comeback from Tommy John surgery. Strikeout stuff including a big yakker curveball and a fastball that has picked up considerable velocity since he was drafted.
39) Craig Gentry (25 year old CF: Double-A)
– A truly outstanding defender and a plus-plus baserunner who is finally hitting, even showing a little pop. Old for his league.
38) Joseph Ortiz (18 year old LHP: Short Season-A)
– Tiny (5′7″) lefty has moxie and excellent stuff, with a 90ish fastball, a plus slider and changeup that is good enough to keep righties in line. Misses plenty of bats.
37) Leury Garcia (18 year old SS: Class-A)
– Lightning quick little (probably 5′6″) switch hitter with cannon arm holding his own at the plate in the Sally League.
36) Richard Alvarez (16 year old RHP: Rookie)
– For his age, he has a freakishly advanced approach to pitching with full arsenal. Has a feel for nuances of the craft. Should add velocity to 87ish fastball as he fills out his thin, 6′2″ frame.
35) Greg Golson (23 year old CF: Triple-A)
– I think he’s a 5th outfielder but maybe he can turn into Marlon Byrd someday.
And so on.
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That writeup is very optimistic
It seems like all these young guys are going to be all-stars haha. I definitely enjoyed reading that.
Alvarez
I just really haven’t let it sink in that he’s still 16 and pitching in the AZL.
Neil Ramirez and Engel Beltre – Show me something, please.
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MJH
I wonder…does he still have Engel Beltre #1?
"Was this really necsarry?" - cowpoke/hurler hurley
I am disappointed that he still has him in his top 20.
Elvis Andrus - 2009 AL Rookie of the Year
Mitch Moreland - 2009 Rangers Minor League POY
I realize his season has been a dissapointment,
but I also think you are giving up on him way too soon. His type of tools are rare to say the least, and he is among the youngest if not the youngest in his league. If he can manage to hit .250, he would still be a very valuable player.
Very good:
Miguel De Los Santos – Visa issues just a technical issue.
"Back on the scene, with a gangsta lean" RW
"you gonna lose your horse. seriously." FX2
Yes we can! November 04, 2008
goyo will probably tell us he knows different
"He will not coddle them. Nolan Ryan doesn’t coddle." - Jeff Passan
by Dirk Diggler on Jul 13, 2009 12:51 PM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
Very bad:
Neil Ramirez – Concerns about his maturity level… His commitment to game is a question mark.
"Back on the scene, with a gangsta lean" RW
"you gonna lose your horse. seriously." FX2
Yes we can! November 04, 2008
Think MJH might have missed the note...
… about Ramirez’s ridiculous off-day workout routine.
by NoNameOnCard on Jul 13, 2009 1:19 PM CDT up reply actions
IMO
Weight room workouts don’t always correlate to commitment to the game of baseball. Some kids just like building muscles, without it really having anything to do with wanting to improve at baseball.
There's more to the picture than meets the eye.
Don't confuse "workout" with weight-lifting.
Anyone who wants to work that hard has a commitment to something. Given his profession, I think it’s fair to assume, even if incorrectly, that his workout is baseball-inspired.
by NoNameOnCard on Jul 13, 2009 1:34 PM CDT up reply actions
IIRC
the report that you refer to specifically stated that the workout was weight lifting.
There's more to the picture than meets the eye.
What report?
The 40 Trumps All!!!
Everyone needs to drive a vehicle, even the very tall. This was the largest auto I could afford. Should I therefore be made the subject of fun?
by thedirkatron on Jul 13, 2009 5:39 PM CDT up reply actions
I wonder if that concern is a result of the circumstances
surrounding his “freak … non-pitching related” elbow injury in extended which delayed his assignment.
For example – crashed a dirtbike in the AZ desert and contusioned the crap outta his arm.
don't forget the "slammed his pitching hand in a car door"
that kept him out of Fall Instructs.
There's more to the picture than meets the eye.
Since Mike is around, I'd be interested to hear his thoughts on this
Crashing a dirtbike and hurting your arm is certainly a bit of an immature decision for a stud pitching prospect. I don’t know that I’d necessarily question his commitment to the game if it’s just that, though. They aren’t all Roger Staubach types who focus on success on the field and abstain from all types of fun.
However, if it is something more than that, I’d be interested to hear. It’s the first I’ve heard of this.
"andruw jones hits 3 HRS at LA of Anaheim last nite after hitting zero at LA of LA as Dodger in all of '08. thats nuts." SI_JonHeyman
it's a theme
I’ve heard several comments from inside the org that lead me to that conclusion. I can’t get into specifics since there’s a lot of off the record info involved. Having said that, you can either trust my instincts or not.
I’ve seen enough over the years to convince myself that guys who don’t have an almost myopic focus on doing whatever they have to do to make it, won’t make it.
Thanks for the info.
"Back on the scene, with a gangsta lean" RW
"you gonna lose your horse. seriously." FX2
Yes we can! November 04, 2008
Good stuff, thanks
I trust your instincts and conversations with insiders a lot more than a trust my uninformed opinion, so I’ll take your word for it.
I agree with you on the myopic focus. The trail to the big leagues is littered with the corpses of one-time stud prospects who just didn’t want it bad enough to make it that far. Since they came out of the same draft, it seems like Beavan and Ramirez make for a good “tale of the tape” in this regard. If Beavan didn’t want it bad enough, he wouldn’t have brushed off the loss of velocity and pushed his way to Double A ball at age 20 like he has. When the going got tough, he got going and found another way: don’t walk anybody.
"andruw jones hits 3 HRS at LA of Anaheim last nite after hitting zero at LA of LA as Dodger in all of '08. thats nuts." SI_JonHeyman
He must be very bullish on someone
In the comments, he notes that Purke and Scheppers would be #5 and #6. Wonder who he has above those 2 in addition to the obvious #1-3?
There's more to the picture than meets the eye.
It's probably Font
I’m a white boy who doesn’t think a black man is good enough to manage my baseball team. - LSJ
"I really think that" - LSJ, on being asked by AirJordan
Beltre?
"andruw jones hits 3 HRS at LA of Anaheim last nite after hitting zero at LA of LA as Dodger in all of '08. thats nuts." SI_JonHeyman
Not unless he smoked some crack before doing the second half of this list.
by LiamP on Jul 13, 2009 1:18 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions
Here's one
Julio Borbon
I’m a white boy who doesn’t think a black man is good enough to manage my baseball team. - LSJ
"I really think that" - LSJ, on being asked by AirJordan
Well, I wouldn't disagree
But Mike loves him some tools, and Beltre is still chock full of them.
Wild Wilmer is my guess, but Beltre wouldn’t surprise me considering Mike’s preseason ranking.
"andruw jones hits 3 HRS at LA of Anaheim last nite after hitting zero at LA of LA as Dodger in all of '08. thats nuts." SI_JonHeyman
The Fighting Grullons
I’m amused that Geuris and Juan were 33 and 34, respectively. That’s probably about where I’d rank them—somewhere just outside the top 30. Juan is in rookie league and is doing well but not dominating, and Geuris is doing okay a level up. Lefties with good stuff and strong GB rates are what prospect lists were built for.
As a sidenote, Matt Purke seems like he’s built a lot like Geuris, and I wonder how their pure stuff stacks up next to one another. Purke is more advanced, for sure.
How do you pronounce
Grullons?
I’m a white boy who doesn’t think a black man is good enough to manage my baseball team. - LSJ
"I really think that" - LSJ, on being asked by AirJordan
I've wondered that myself
I would prefer to say it “Grool-on,” but I think I heard somewhere its pronounced with a silent L, like “Grew-on.”
"andruw jones hits 3 HRS at LA of Anaheim last nite after hitting zero at LA of LA as Dodger in all of '08. thats nuts." SI_JonHeyman
double L
I think that would be pronounced like an english Y.
Grew-yon
There's more to the picture than meets the eye.
Yeah, I think you might be right
I’m no Spanish expert.
I’m the guy who, just to aggravate the Spanish I teacher in high school, liked to assume that the Spanish translation of all English words was a simple addition of “el” to the beginning and an “o” to the end. He thought some of them were funny, but made me stop when I used “el no-oh” for “no”.
"andruw jones hits 3 HRS at LA of Anaheim last nite after hitting zero at LA of LA as Dodger in all of '08. thats nuts." SI_JonHeyman
Gentry over Bianucci? A little ballsy.
Look at the comments under Jeff Wilson's blog post on dallasnews.com. What a bunch of rocket scientists.- Keith Law
by Keynes on Jul 13, 2009 1:38 PM CDT via mobile reply actions
The Nooch will now hit seven homers and twelve doubles in the next week
Just to make a point.
"andruw jones hits 3 HRS at LA of Anaheim last nite after hitting zero at LA of LA as Dodger in all of '08. thats nuts." SI_JonHeyman
You didn't read the article huh?
These players were not oversights: Thomas Diamond, Joaquin Arias, Johnny Whittleman, Manny Pina, Richard Bleier, Matt Thompson and Mike Bianucci. All were left off the top 40 after careful consideration. Any of them could make me look bad in the next few months and I hope they do.
"He will not coddle them. Nolan Ryan doesn’t coddle." - Jeff Passan
by Dirk Diggler on Jul 13, 2009 1:55 PM CDT up reply actions
I'm guessing he erred on the side of toolsiness
Since all the Latin kids at the end are more toolsy than the Nooch. I don’t agree with that decision, but that’s my assumption.
Of course, Nooch has sucked since going to Bakersfield (.407 OPS), but since it’s a mere 29 PA, it’s a little too soon to pull out the jump to conclusions mat.
"andruw jones hits 3 HRS at LA of Anaheim last nite after hitting zero at LA of LA as Dodger in all of '08. thats nuts." SI_JonHeyman
There's a Mountain...
of college hitting prospects who looked great in short season and low A ball and then never amounted to anything in Double-A or above. I generally ignore those guys as prospects until they show me they can handle Double-A pitching. I learned the hard way on that issue many years ago (e.g. Jeremy Cleveland, Andrew Wishy, Dane Bubela, Adam Bourassa, Steve Murphy, etc.)
Tim Smith and Mitch Moreland seem to have made the transition to the upper levels very successfully. I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to them last year. A year from now, we’ll know if Bianucci is the next Moreland or the next Cleveland. Right now, I have no real reason to believe he’s more likely to become one than the other.
Thanks for the explanation
Taking that approach makes sense, especially if you’ve been burned by the Low A wonders in the past.
"andruw jones hits 3 HRS at LA of Anaheim last nite after hitting zero at LA of LA as Dodger in all of '08. thats nuts." SI_JonHeyman
Thanks all to hell for bringing up Cleveland...
Some of us sure had high hopes for him, plus that guy from Rice that went nowhere.
The Texas Rangers have been synonymous with explosive firepower ever since they emptied 130 rounds into Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow in 1934. - Alyssa Milano
Sinisi.
As someone here once said, he was great in Forrest Gump.
"[Font} doesn't turn 19 until the end of May and his heater can already hit 99 on the gun. That's baseball porn." - Jason Parks
by hightowersmith on Jul 13, 2009 2:56 PM CDT up reply actions
Ah yes.... Lt Dayunnnn
Those jokes about injured legs just wrote themselves…
The Texas Rangers have been synonymous with explosive firepower ever since they emptied 130 rounds into Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow in 1934. - Alyssa Milano
Good explanation
And I suppose a guy who’d be a pretty good 5th OF in the mjors now does have more value than a guy who might top out at low-A.
Look at the comments under Jeff Wilson's blog post on dallasnews.com. What a bunch of rocket scientists.- Keith Law
by Keynes on Jul 13, 2009 3:16 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions
I agree with this on Bianucci
He still has a lot to prove. He’s hitting and hitting for power, but the plate discipline doesn’t wow.
G G G E-flat_______ F F F D__________....
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